In the forms folding apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,356,557 issued Dec. 5, 1967 to A. G. Enskat a web of paper is fed from a first roller to a second roller which is oriented at right angles to the first roller and spaced above the same. And, the web is folded in the course of traveling upwardly between the rollers although no controlling structure is provided to assist in the folding operation. In practice, it has been found that the lack of provision of such controlling structure militates against usage of the apparatus for folding webs of different widths and/or weights per unit lengths, for example under different environmental conditions, or for folding webs which include a weakened fold line which is not centrally located along the longitudinal length of the web. In addition, it has been found that even when some forms of web folding control structure are added to such apparatus, one or more of the aforesaid problems persist. On the other hand, it has been found that the aforesaid problems are to some extent alleviated when the aforesaid structure is modified such that rather than folding the web as it is being raised, from a lower roller to an upper roller, the web is folded as it is being lowered, provided the upper roller is converted to a drag member, and more particularly, to adjustable drag means. In addition, it has been found that when such modified structure is further improved to include fold assisting structure between the upper drag means and lower roller, the aforesaid problems are substantially eliminated. With the above thoughts in mind and with a view to substantially providing for guidance of the folded web as it exits the folding apparatus:
An object of the present invention is to provide web folding apparatus for use with a machine for feeding a folded web of paper;
Another object is to provide, for use with a web feeding machine, improved apparatus for folding an unfolded web along a longitudinally-extending weakened fold line; and
Yet another object is to provide the aforesaid improved web folding apparatus with means for guiding the fold edge of a folded web in a downstream path of travel.